Wolf's Rain :00: An Other Story
by AuroranWings
Summary: .Summary. Taking place after 'Paradise' was awakened. The story of two brothers searching for something something they had no idea how much it would change their lives. .Details inside. .Rated T for blood and violence. .Manga Scans.Chapter 6.
1. Prologue: Been a Long Road to Follow

**Author's Note**: All right. This story won't make the most of sense unless you have read the manga series. (Only two volumes long by the way. No joke.) But if you want to continue, go ahead. I'm just warning you that the manga is completely different than the anime; obviously. It's a nice other ending to the series. :D I'll try to explain this as much as I can… and good luck reading! 

This prologue takes place in the last part of the last book.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Wolf's Rain. I only own the names of the characters in this story, seeing as the creators didn't give them names… as far as I know.

This whole chapter is an excerpt from the second volume of the manga. Please don't hate me for using this. Truly, it is needed to explain the story. I've simply 'wordified' it, a word I created when you describe a manga in words and description. But truly, other than this prologue, and a few parts in the next chapter, all the rest will be all of my original work

* * *

**Wolf's Rain :00: An Other Story  
****Prologue**

The winter breeze blows small flakes of snow across the wide, open fields. In the distance, one can see a town built into the rock, people milling about.

One small girl can be seen tending a small field of flowers, their senseless green stalks waving about. Her hair is a deep black, and is pulled into a braided ponytail down her back.

"TIAAA!" A boy runs up to her, his breath clouding out in front of him, "Tia – huh? What? Are you sure it's okay… to take the flowers outside like that?" He asks as he runs up to her. He puts his hands on his knees, doubled over from the effort.

The girl, called Tia, smiles. "Yeah. They've spent their whole lives in the greenhouse." She looked back down to the plants, "But the flowers spoke to me… They said… that the ice age is finally over." She smiles distantly, as a memory of another small boy crossed her mind.

"…That reminds me." The boy piques up again.

"Hmmm?" Tia is inspecting a small plant in the field.

"There's a rumor around town… that somewhere, far, far away… Paradise was found."

Tia freezes, and silently gets up again.

The adolescent smiles. "How cool. I wonder what's it's like. I wanna go there." He grins, putting his arms behind his head.

"…What're you talking about?" Tia's gaze falls on the stretch of field before her, then turns away, "This place is going to become Paradise too." She smiles again, and before walking away looks to the sky.

'…Toboe.' She thinks, 'I… finally found my own Paradise. You… probably found yours after a long struggle. Did you find the flower… you were looking for?'

-Not Far Off...-

Two pairs of feet stepped onto a plateau not far from where Tia and her friend had begun to walk off.

Two boys, brothers most likely, stand silently staring over the field of flowers Tia had been tending to.

One of them, shorter than the other, with white-blond hair, cut short that it waved wispily in the cool breeze. A dark, almost shiny black jacket that reached his wrists was zipped around his lightly built torso. White cargo pants that almost overlapped his black sneakers stood stiffly in the breeze. His eyes were a soft blue, sympathetic and kind.

The other, slightly taller than the other boy, stood next to him, one foot in front of him as though he was going to take a step. A reflective black shirt covered his chest, and underneath that were tight blue jeans, which clung to his body. Scuffed black sneakers was what he wore as well, dusty from the twos' travel. His hair was like that of a raven, longer and more lithe-like than the other's. His deep brown eyes surveyed the two children leaving the farm, both were silent.

Each wore a long tattered cape, the black-haired one's with two latches across the chest; clearly in better condition than the other's. His was simply a long robe, a mix of browns slung across his body.

The wind took these capes and flung them backward, each brother unfazed.

Black-hair held out a hand, and unfurled in his palm lay a petal. A light purple petal, slightly crumpled from its cramped space.

"Well… I guess this isn't it either. But… One thing's for sure. The flower petal that came fluttering this way… That day…" Black-hair paused, before curling his hand up again and pulling back towards him, "Has the scent of the flower that Dad and Mom lost. …And…"

The wind faltered for a moment, and in the two boys' place were two large dogs.

No, not dogs. The magnificent grey-white animals that stood before the settlement were not of this tamed breed. Their pelts were both that of the same colour, a light grey, so lightly coloured, it was almost white. Both could be mistaken for the same animal, if not the colour of their eyes.

Blue-Eyes spoke, "…I can hear them… my brother."

"Yes."

Each was a man again, shielded from curious human eyes. They spoke, in tune, their voices almost alike.

"Let's go."

Blue-eyes spoke, almost a whisper amidst the sweet howl of the wind, "I can hear… the call of the wolves."


	2. Chapter One: There and gone tomorrow

**Author's Note:** Well, hopefully this chapter will be more exciting to you readers. The prologue was just an intro (why it's called a 'prologue') so things should pick up more now. And remember to pay attention to the ages of the wolves I have at the beginning! It'll help you understand a lot better, I'm sure.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Wolf's Rain; it belongs to Keiko Nobumoto and BONES.

**Important Note:** The italicized part and the last part of this chapter are all excerpted from the second manga volume of Wolf's Rain. Well, technically just the verbal parts. The description is describing the picture in the book. After this chapter, there will be **NO MORE **excerpts from the manga. So _PLEASE_ don't think I've come up with this great work. I apologize for my lack of creativity, but I needed these parts I am using to help you guys, the readers, understand. Again, I **DO NOT **own any part of Wolf's Rain (it belongs to Keiko Nobumoto and BONES!!), or anything relating to that.

If you are completely lost and need some help, email me if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them!

Read on! And please review. Constructive comments are welcome, as are praises. Flames will be ignored.

* * *

**Wolf's Rain: An Other Story  
Chapter #One: Been a Long Road to Follow  
Current Ages (Wolf):  
Tiben: One  
Jakken: One**

_The blue-black wolf with the collar around her neck spoke to my brother and I._

_We didn't understand her. We didn't understand why Mom wasn't talking to us. Mom was hurt, real bad, like the rest of our pack. But Mom protected us through the rest of the pack. Even though Reki, Jeven, Marcus, and all the others were going crazy. They had started a ferocious frenzy, as soon as they saw the girl with the strange flowery scent, who was with the other four wolves. _

_Why wasn't mom waking up?! I whimpered loudly, feeling helpless. Mom had carried us here, to this quiet place in the forest after she had staggered away from Dad's pack. _

_The black, collared wolf nudged our Mom gently with her nose, sniffing her carefully. I sat with Jakken, whimpering as much as he._

_After a moment, she stopped, and sat down, looking at us._

"…_Hey you two. This place… is full of humans wielding guns. Go on… go."_

_She stood up, this time as a human girl; tall with black hair and shiny blue eyes. Jakken and I did the same, going to our human guises, like Mom and Dad had taught us. Jakken looked like a small human child with dark blue overalls and blonde hair. I was in a black shirt with equally dark blue jeans. She held a hand out to us._

"_Your momma isn't going to wake up…" She began._

_Jakken was crying, and at first I wondered why, before I realized that I had started crying as well: hot, warm tears that came harder and harder with each second._

_I found myself crying, harder and harder all the longer, and silently as well. "…And your papa… isn't coming back either…" She said softly._

_My mind flashed back to where I had last seen Dad. Holding down one of our members and snarling at him to stop. Then there was a loud crack, like thunder, and Dad had collapsed after a speeding red ball had forced its way through him. He hadn't moved after that._

"…_I'm sorry…" She murmured gently, crouching down and stroking the tears off of Jakken's cheek._

"_I… couldn't protect anything…" She whispered quietly to herself._

_But Jakken and I weren't listening. Silently, I had gotten to my feet and pulled Jakken after me, holding his hand and parting the way through the bushes. _

"_Brother, where are we going to go? How are we going to survive?" Jakken asked in his small voice._

_Although we were born in the same litter, I was older by at least fifteen minutes. I had the responsibility to watch after Jakken, the only puppy beside me that survived birth._

"_I don't know Jakken. But we're going to live… Somehow…"_

_We trudged on, without looking back. I never saw that wolf again._

- - -

**-One Year Ago: Inside Freeze City-  
Current Ages:  
Tiben: Three  
Jakken: Three**

I awoke, jerking up after my dream.

It was one of many that I had of my brother and I's past, this dream being one of the better ones. There were others too, but for some reason that was one of my favorites, besides the ones of mother and father.

Yawning, I got to my human feet, pulling my cape over my head, brushing off the dust that had settled on my human clothes as I had slept.

I looked around, my eyes taking in the dim surroundings. Jakken and I had fared off well enough, being able to find this abandoned building for shelter. Then again, in this city, finding shelter wasn't very hard. There were dozens of secluded areas like these.

This city was mostly abandoned, but it was one of Jakken and I's first leads to the flower petal we had found. Strangely enough, in this city, the petal hadn't wilted from the environment, but had the opposite effect. It had bloomed, all on its own. To most eyes, it was simply a white-lavender flower petal, but to my brother and I, it shone with radiance when held in the light of the moon.

It also had a most peculiar scent. It smelled like… well… what the moon would smell like if our noses could reach it. It was new, and sweet, too. It was like the fresh and free scent of where my brother and I had lived before the day we left. It was like a wolf, and yet not.

I smiled faintly before stepping out of the musty room to the doorway, to jump back only a moment later as my younger brother, Jakken pounced up.

"Brother! Look what I… erm, 'found!'" He held up a basket of fruit, and despite their lumpy appearance, the fruit were what many people would describe as 'delicious' in this dump.

"Jakken!" I scolded him in a rather grumpy tone, after getting back to my feet. "I told you not to take from the humans here! They live in bad enough conditions without you stealing their food right from under their wimpy noses!" I admonished him, swiping a fruit from the basket and sniffing it tentatively before taking a large bite out of it.

"But – " He began, then his mouth broke into a grin as he saw me eating freely. "Tiben, you're cheating me." He chuckled before also taking a fruit out and eating.

He set the basket down on the floor and we both sat next to it.

We ate in silence for a moment, and I waited until he swallowed the core of his fruit before I jumped up and grabbed the basket, leaping out of the room.

"Brother - !" Jakken shouted, looking down twenty feet from the doorway to see me waving innocently back up at him.

After all, a drop of twenty feet is no big deal if you're a wolf.

------

The normally hushed market streets of the raggedy and forlorn town of Belfiar were alive with whispers and hushed voices at the animals walking between the stalls.

People stopped in the middle of their shopping time and stared at the strange sight that walked in front of them. Small children giggled and laughed, trying to catch a glimpse, while mothers gripped their small hands tighter in protection.

Two almost identical enormous dogs padded side by side in the street. Their dusty and dirty grey-white fur matched a little too well with the grimy city, and their huge paws were almost double the size of other dogs'.

One of the dogs carried a basket of moderately fresh fruit in its mouth.

"Brother, I was going to take it back… You know, after we had eaten enough." Jakken whined, walking beside me.

"I told you already. We need only natural food and the moonlight to survive, we don't scavenge off of humans who barely have enough to eat themselves." I swished my tail and ended the conversation.

People hearing these voices paused, and shook their heads, dismissing the voices that they had heard as a side conversation of nearby shoppers.

"That looks like a good enough family." Jakken pointed out with his long slender nose, blinking to clear the dust from his blue eyes.

He was indicating a raggedy-looking family, a mother of two small children. The woman was haggling for a piece of pathetic looking meat, while the two boys, scuffed and dirty, stood around her feet, one of the boys tugging on her dress.

I smiled a rueful smile. It figured. My brother was too predictable.

"Okay." I agreed. Quietly, I padded over to where the two boys stood. Both stared at me with wide, innocent eyes. I grimly thought, 'No one should have to live like this,' while tipping their mother's shopping bag over with my nose, and then dumping our basket of fruit into theirs. Quietly, I pushed their bag back up and nuzzled the younger child with my nose, before briskly running away with my brother as the sounds of sirens slowly filled the streets behind us.

"Timmy, what is it? Mummy is busy shop – oh! Timmy, where did you get these fruit?"

"The doggy brought them, mummy."

------

We were running faster now, to try and escape the sirens of the police force.

Again and again, we leapt, higher and higher to the different levels of the city.

"Jakken – " I began irritably, pausing on top of a relatively high building.

"No one happened to see you as a human when you took the fruit, did they?" My voice was dangerously level.

"Umm… maybe?" Jakken replied, while giving me a look, crossing his arms over his chest and grinning sheepishly.

"You're hopeless, Jakken. Completely hopeless." I shook my head and closed my dark brown eyes, listening to the sounds of the police cars closing in.

"I know, brother." He replied with a small grin, and then added, "But why would they care about a bunch of old fruit being stolen?"

"Who knows what's going on with the Nobles and their minion armies and police forces…" I muttered.

We were silent for a moment, both lost in our own thoughts.

"You know, Tiben… there wasn't anything left in this city that smelled like the flower." Jakken spoke softly.

"I know."

"…So should we go? I mean, that lab was shut down a long time ago, _at least_ two years or so. The scent of our petal was almost dried up in there. And there weren't any clues on the computers. …Well, what was left of them anyway."

"I know." I opened my eyes again, and began to leap away to a distant opening, a ragged hole that had been torn away, where the snow from an outside storm blew furiously in.

Jakken followed me silently.

-------

"All right! Take that! Hah hah!" Jakken punched his human fist in the air as a sign of victory after landing safely on the snow-covered ground outside the city.

I smiled, shaking my head in embarrassment at my brother's behavior.

Jakken's victory dance was cut short at the sight of bullets spraying the snow at his feet. His eyes grew sharp again, staring at the humans in the hole where Jakken and I had leapt off.

"…And stay out! Lousy thieves! Good luck getting back into _this_ city again!" A soldier shouted from the brim.

Jakken grinned at the man's words, knowing that neither of us had the intention of ever returning to this place. He then walked up to me, his shoes crunching in the snow.

"Shall we?" He indicated the long stretch of land in front of us, the snow-covered ground mixing into the sky at the horizon that was far in front of us.

'Its never-ending, isn't it?' I thought to myself inwardly, 'Will our search never end? Dad…? Mom…?' I stared at the sky, the snowflakes floating lazily down and melting quickly on my warm fur.

I brought my gaze back down from the clouds and began to run, passing Jakken, who quickly joined in my stride beside me. We were in tune, as we always would be. We would search the ends of the Earth if need be. We were going to find the place that Mom and Dad had lost sight of.

That one place, called…

------

_Blue was silent after seeing the two pups walk away. She couldn't help them. It was out of the question, she had enough trouble looking after Pop, let alone two young pups. Pops was… Blue sighed. She didn't know how to describe how she felt now._

_But she did know that taking back Pops was out of the question. She just… couldn't now. He was in enough shock already, finding this pack of wolves, and then seeing the mother and her children being attacked by the other wolves. The mother and her pups had been in their human form, and after Pops had shot the wolves attacking them, he had been shocked to see that he had saved the very creatures he had sworn to kill._

_Wolves had destroyed Kyrios, the place where both Pops and Blue had lived._

_Realizing she couldn't follow the young pups' path anymore after they had disappeared into the underbrush, Blue sighed and looked to the sky. Her lower lip trembled for a moment, as she realized she didn't know what to do next._

'_The journey begins.' She thought to herself, 'There is no future here. I just can't wait for Paradise to come to me. I've got to get over this feeling of pain and loss. The future lies ahead. Now is the time… to begin a new journey.'_

* * *

**Freeze City:** The first city the original Wolf's Rain characters started out in, where they all met. 


	3. Chapter Two: Without Saying GoodBye

**-Author's Note**: Well, I've noticed that when I've posted this chapter, I have received a total of **0** reviews. Personally, I don't care. I really don't. I'm just having fun posting this for all to see.  
-I've actually had some fun writing this, because it gave me so much freedom in the writing area! …Okay, more or less. I do have some limits on the plot… -' Anyway, thanks for reading this far!

**-Character Notes: **Oh yes, unless I failed to point this out before, Tiben's name is pronounced 'Tee-ben.' Not 'Ty-ben' or something like that. Ech. Sounds kinda strange, personally. Also, unless you couldn't tell, I found myself basing Jakken's personality after Alphonse Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. Don't know how that came to be. O.o'' Anyway.

**-Disclaimer:** This one owns no aspects of the series of Wolf's Rain. None at all.

-Hope ya enjoy Chapter Two!

-...-

_It had been awhile since Tiben and Jakken had ever thought of searching for something else. Something else other than the source of the scent of the flower petal they currently held lovingly in their possession. _

_They had never really thought about what they were searching for, and why, but it didn't matter. Their father and mother had diligently searched, and failed. But that didn't matter too much to them either. They just wanted to find it, for Mom and Dad._

_And they would. Someday._

-...-

**Wolf's Rain :00: An Other Story  
Chapter #Two: Without Saying Goodbye to Yesterday  
Current Ages (Wolf):  
Tiben: Four  
Jakken: Four **

"Brother, I don't know what we're still doing here. There is nothing here that has any relation to the petal, and Jagara's… people," Jakken paused here, and spat the word 'people' out, referring to the merciless soldiers that were mindless puppets under Jagara's control, "are closing in. This city was already a junk-heap to begin with." He scratched his white-blond hair with a questionable look on his face.

Tiben grinned in return, his own ebony hair wavering slightly in the breeze that had kicked up.

"I told you, there's something else here that interests me… But I don't know what yet," Tiben turned one of his chocolate-brown eyes to glance at his younger brother, "Don't tell me you don't feel it."

"Well…" Jakken blinked, then turned his gaze onto the shambled city of Treols, (**A/N:** Making the names up as I go… -'Pronounced: 'Tree-ohls,') and sniffed the air cautiously a couple times.

"Yes. I do. But we really aren't making any effort to find them, now are we Tiben?" Jakken raised an eyebrow at his lounging brother.

The wind whipped harder around them, causing Jakken to then shudder and curl his rather tattered cape around him tighter. "Don't you think that the weather is getting a little cold? Can we _please_ move somewhere lower, where the wind DOESN'T tear us apart!"

The two wolven brothers were sitting on top of one of the tallest buildings in Treols. Not that this building was all that tall. The city of Treols was, at best, in good condition compared to the other cities the two had been visiting over the past two/three years. They had lost count, really. There wasn't much point in keeping count of the botchery of towns and cities on their journey.

Incidentally, they had come across some places dozens of times, either because of their liking of the specific location, or the fact that they had lost their way on the wide, barren, and hostile wasteland that stretched between all areas.

Treols was kept in better 'posture' - one might say – than the rest, but that was only because it was the major supplier of clean, pure water. That water came from a – rare indeed – mountain, close to the town's outskirts. There were no walls surrounding this town, unlike the city of Belfiar, but there really wasn't any point in that action.

Only because there was the wasteland of pre-destined death awaiting on the barren tundra of the world if the people of the mountain-city tried to escape.

Jagara's troops swarmed the town, making sure that the people were going on with their lives like normal people and getting their job done. Or else. That 'or else' was pretty much an empty threat; from what Tiben and Jakken could tell. The soldiers acted like they owned the town, which they pretty much did. Taxes were higher, and it looked like everyday one person or another was dragged off to prisons or even interrogating centers if they suspected a revolt.

Jagara. The cause of all the evil that had plagued the world since the Noble Darcia had disappeared. So Jagara had risen up, Lord Oakam scuttling away in fear. No one had heard from him since an attack on his flying ship had been executed. All had labeled him a coward. Jagara ruled the land like a queen, and most treated her like that or faced death. The number of soldiers under her control seemed to be growing by the second.

Most people tried to escape to rural towns in small places that no one had ever heard of, their own small Paradise to escape to. Other places had never even heard of Jagara or her reign of terror, too lost in their own worlds and private areas of peace.

Those who tried to escape were punished severely.

That's why Tiben and Jakken had been hiding in one of Treols' higher buildings, a sort of abandoned packing unit on the outskirts of the city. It was a smart idea; too, for there were rumors going among the towns-people that Jagara had been seeking wolves.

Thus the hiding of the two wolves.

Tiben shivered, blinking out of his stupor of thought.

"What were you saying Jakken?" He asked absently.

Jakken pursed his lips, getting up and dusting the dirt that had gathered on his jeans and cape while sitting. He walked over to his brother, still gazing absently over the rooftops of the bustling town, going about their normal afternoon life.

"OUCH!" Tiben immediately rubbed the sore spot on his head where Jakken had hit him reproachfully.

"_What was that for!"_ Tiben growled, pouncing on his brother.

The silver wolf laying on his belly underneath the weight of the larger being on top of his grinned the rueful wolf-grin, _"You were being a butt."_

Tiben snorted, and cuffed his brother smartly across his head with one of his large paws before stalking off and sitting not far off.

"_Equal payback then." _The brown-eyed wolf sniffed disdainfully as the other wolf whined weakly and lay on his belly, putting two paws over his head in mock pain.

"_True. But you didn't have to hit me so hard. That hurt. YOU were the one phasing out on me in the first place. I was simply bringing you back to reality. One must not get too caught up in the layers of one's inner perception of this. You were day-dreaming again."_ The piercing gaze of ice-blue eyes concluded Jakken's statement, sitting up in a sort of thoughtful pose for a wolf; his front paws crossed over one another, his long legs against his body. His tail swished once to confirm his suspicions.

"_Yes… Thanks Jakken._" The silverish wolf sighed and tilted his head towards the sky, so that he could see the large, almost sagacious-looking sun – which resulted in him blinking furiously to dance away the black dots that exploded in front of his eyes when he stared too long at the sun. He put a paw over his eyes and then shook his head, clearing the dots that were blurring his vision.

The blue-eyed wolf started laughing, rolling on his back in a carefree sort of way, cackling in an almost hyena-like way. Not that either had ever heard of such a canine.

The ears of Tiben went back, snarling angrily at his brother, _"Shut up. What're you laughing about!"_

"Y-…Y-You! You look ridiculous!" Jakken responded, his human mouth agape with laughter pouring out of it. He was still on his back, his feet in the air with his arms crossed over is ribcage, shaking with laughter.

"I'll show YOU ridiculous!" Tiben launched at his brother, showing him that just being family really meant nothing when he was angry.

"I was just kid—OUCH! That hur-ow! I'm pretty surethat human arms aren't meant to be bent that way—OOOOOOOOOW!" Jakken whacked his free left arm on the floor of the cement roof, eyes tearing up.

"In pain!" He whined a small voice, "I call the Uncle! UNCLE!"

Tiben laughed and let go of his brother's arm, standing up and looking over the town again. Jakken rubbed his arm socket sorely, shooting his brother a deadly glare while making sure his arm still bent in the right direction.

A loud, piercing scream broke the air, causing the actions of both brothers to stop, and stare at each other, their human ears almost quivering from the noise.

"Let's go." Jakken nodded in agreement with his brother, "Someone is in trouble; and a girl no less! We have to help her!" He brought a hand in front of his face and clenched it in a fist.

Tiben rolled his eyes and jumped off the roof, with his brother following closely behind.

-...-

"Scumbags! Leave me alone!"

"C'mon little girl, we just want to watch out for you. Come with us, and we'll watch you carefully." A nasty cackle followed this statement, as the laughter of other men joined in.

"Perverts…" Muttered the slightly ruffled voice of the girl.

Tiben and Jakken were able to catch these garbled bits of conversation, as they landed beside the corner of an alley, their current position on the same side that hid them from view from the people inside the small alley.

"What're we waiting for brother! We have to help her – " Jakken was cut off by a hand from his brother, which was shot out to block his way into the alley.

"Shhh."

Jakken shot his brother a strange and befuddled look.

"I said stay away!" It could only be assumed that the men had come closer.

"Relax honey. We just want to have some fun." Came the same sleazy voice of what could be labeled as the leader.

"I don't play like that." A pair of discolored eyes glimmered with glee.

"What the – AHHHH!" A man flew back from inside the alley into the wall in front of Jakken and Tiben, one of which promptly jumped into the other's arms. I assume that you can guess which was which.

Tiben gave his brother an irritated look and simply dropped his brother on the ground without a word as another word was sent sprawling into the dirt getting his posh neon green shirt dirty.

Jakken and Tiben both raised an eyebrow at this strange sight, as the man got to his feet trembling, and screamed, running away from the sight. A couple more men were sent from the alleyway onto their butts, both of which followed suit as their other buddy.

One man simply ran out from his own accord, trembling and shaking all other. On his way out, he ran into Tiben, who gave him a dirty look when the greased-haired man grabbed desperately onto the collar of his tattered cape, shaking like crazy and saying, "She's… she's crazy! She sent Jamison into the… wall! And Tresek and Kesert with… with… I don't know! And… oh gawd… She's crazy! She's an… an… animal! Some sort of BEAST!" The man screamed again when a loud snarl rose up in the alley. He released Tiben's collar and ran off, Tiben looking extremely ticked off.

"That's it! You're some sort of freak! I'm going to get rid of you, little girl!" The sound of a pistol being cocked clicked before another growl and snarl grumbled and the sound of a body being dragged across the ground accompanied it.

Suddenly, a man with a large beast on top of him slid into the area in front of Jakken and Tiben. The sleazy-looking man had the pearly-white jaws of an unknown creature imbedded in his left arm, which had been thrown up in front of his face to vainly protect him from the attack.

Blood poured from between the teeth, and the man writhed and twitched vainly in agony.

"Oh Gawd! Oh gawd I'm gonna die! Oh my…" He rambled on and on, eyes rolling into the back of his head.

The beast on top of him said nothing but released its hold on his arm, only after throwing him limply a couple of yards.

The man scrambled to his feet, his right hand clutching where blood had started to run down, in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.

"I… oh… I'm going take care of you, you wench!" The man yelled, before turning around and running away, stumbling quite often from pain and fear.

Jakken and Tiben exchanged looks before looking at the 'beast' that had attacked him.

A wolf. A wolf stood tall and proud, watching the man run away, still as a stock. A tail twisted amiably behind its proud figure. The fur of this creature held a creamy texture to it, a brown so light it was almost white, giving it a nearly white look - however a faded and off-white. Its ears were cocked upward, and in interest.

You'd think this animal was a dog, and for a good reason. There was a black leather collar around its neck – a blank silver nametag absent of any engravement.

There was something else too, something rather unexpected, as pointed out by Jakken. "You're a girl!"

The wolf snorted, and in its place stood a young girl, with white hair that hung around her shoulders, straight and stiff. She stood with her hand on her hips, staring disdainfully at the two brothers before her.

She was dressed rather strangely; a rough white cotton afghan thrown over her torso, which covered her down to her waist. Her eyes were a piercing silver colour, slightly strange for a wolf. Bell-bottomed blue jeans went down to her feet, which were covered by black boots, scuffed from years of use. And of course her collar, which hung around her small human neck, its blank tag gleaming in the sun.

"Well, yeah! Who did ya think I was! Sheesh! Wolves these… days…" She stopped in mid-sentence.

"_Wolves…"_ She whispered, and slowly padded up to the twin silver wolves that shivered slightly from delight before her, rubbing her neck against each of them, in sheer bliss of finding another like her.

-A Couple Minutes Later-

"So… who are you?" Jakken asked the small girl curiously, from the small trio's perch on top a low, squat building.

"Well… I don't know," The girl paused, then seeing the confused looks on the brothers' faces, quickly added, "That is, I don't have a clue as to what my real name is." She grinned apologetically.

"Then… what do you call yourself? I notice there's a collar around your neck." Tiben grumbled, the only one not necessarily happy about the reunion. He stood apart from the younger wolves; his arms crossed across his chest in somewhat scorn.

"Well…" The small girl paused, rubbing her fingers against the polished, flat surface of the blank silver rectangle, thinking for a moment.

"Promise you won't laugh but… I just call myself Blanke." (A/N: Pronounced like 'blank.')

Jakken cocked his head, "But what about that collar?"

"I don't know. Everywhere I go – I mean, in this city, I've tried to get it off, but I can't manage it. It's stuck around my neck…" Blanke sighed, and looked into the sky, falling onto her back.

"So you're not a tamed _**dog**_," Tiben growled, "Owned by the humans, then?"

Blanke shook her head.

"Do you want us to try and take it off for you? I'm sure that my brother and I could get it off!" Jakken said, his voice rising with excitement.

Again, Blanke shook her head, propping herself up with her elbows and staring at Jakken with sad eyes, "No thanks. This thing is the only clue to my memory…"

"Your memory?" Murmured Tiben, blinking suddenly.

"Yes. I can't remember where my pack is, or why they all left me. I've been all alone all my life… I found myself waking up somewhere, with no memory of what had happened before. I knew how old I was,but I didn't know how. I didn't know who my mother, or father were. All I can remember about my pup-hood is a cry. Just a cry…" Blanke pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, closing her eyes at the memory, "It was a sad cry. Very… I don't know. It just gives me the creeps." She shuddered.

" 'Your pup-hood?' " Tiben laughed, "From the looks of it your still in your pup-hood. What're you, two?"

"I'm THREE for your information Mister… Mister… Erm, what was your name again?" Blanke stood up in indignation, then stopped, realizing she had no idea who her fellow canines were.

"Jakken." He murmured, jerking a thumb towards himself.

"Tiben." Said the taller of the two wolves.

"We're brothers." Both said the last in unison.

"Couldn't tell." Blanke grinned wryly, chuckling. Both Tiben and Jakken started to smile as well.

All their merriment was cut short as the rapid pinging of bullets reigned the wall just below where they stood and/or sat.

"What the – " Tiben began, then cut off by Blanke.

" – Oh crap. That guy… oh manohmanohman…" Blanke nervously ran a small hand through her hair, then fumbling with her collar again.

" 'That guy' what? That man that you bit earlier?" Tiben asked, running up to her and placing two hands on her shoulders, gripping her tightly.

She nodded weakly.

"Well what about him, Blanke!"

"He… he… he got Jagara's troops!" Blanke broke free of Tiben's grip and pounced a small distance away, to be away from the hailstorm of bullets.

"He must have reported something to the soldiers… OH MAN! I am SUCH an IDIOT!" Blanke rammed her head against a nearby slab of concrete, "There are troops… soldiers of Jagara's that are…"

"They're what!" Both brothers ran to the small girl, Jakken pulling her away from the concrete, so she couldn't hurt herself any more.

"They're… collecting wolves." She whispered, as Jakken's eyes grew wide and a storm of bullets sounded from the rooftop next to the three wolves, throwing themselves into the body of Tiben.

Time stood still.

Jakken watched with too-slow eyes, too-weak reflexes, as the body of his older brother, his **only** brother, flew into the air, a weak whimper escaping his wolf throat before he landed limply on the ground, blood pouring from the ragged holes the bullets had left.

Sooner than seemed possible, he was sprawled in a pool of his own blood, Jakken darting forward from the slab of concrete that he and Blanke were using for cover to grab his brother's body.

Without a word, a silver wolf with sad blue eyes had propped the bloody body of his brother over his back, indicating with his head to Blanke to follow. They leapt to another rooftop, faster than normal, bullets biting their heels.

By the time the specially armored troops used to exterminate wolves had arrived, they found themselves on an empty rooftop, a pool of wolf's blood the only evidence of other life.

-...-

'_Please brother, I can't let you die.'_ The same thought raced through the smaller silver wolf as he and his partner raced to find a safe haven before it was too late.


	4. Chapter Three: Are the memories I hold

**Author's Note:** Yay! Reviews! Thanks guys! That last statement I made first in my last Author's Note was pretty dumb, huh? Oh yes, if you couldn't tell, I've started to have the text in which the wolves speak as wolves **"**_italicized_,**"** so that should clear things up.

The text that is **'**_italicized_**'** no matter human or wolf, that indicates their thoughts; incase you couldn't tell.

**Character Notes:** Okay. I don't know if you're getting the same image as I had when I wrote it, but think about whom else has a collar in the series like Blanke's… That's all I'll say. Sadly I don't plan on revealing her past for a bit of time now… so you'll have to deal with the agony of the enigma. P

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Wolf's Rain, BONES, or anything relating to it. I only own the plot of this story, and of course dear Blanke. D

Now read on and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I love writing it! (Oh yes. In case you haven't noticed, I've started an 'inspirational' piece at the beginning of each chapter. It might be from Wolf's Rain - anime or manga- or something else. -shrug-)

-...-

"_What do you plan on finding once you reach this Paradise?"_  
"_A future."_  
"_A future?"_  
"_Not hope… or despair. Just a future. Nothing more."_  
"…_I no longer have any need… for… a future."_

-…-

**Wolf's Rain :00: An Other Story  
Chapter #Three: Are the Memories I Hold Still Valid?   
Current Ages (Wolf):  
Tiben: Four  
Jakken: Four  
Blanke: Three**

"_Oh Man… What're we gonna do!_" The scritch-scratch of wolves' paws made their way on the forever walked-upon street, the heavy pounding of soldier's cleats far behind, near beside, and close in front of.

Jakken had never once thought of cursing, a vile human trait he despised, but of all the times in his life, now seemed the best time as ever.

'_I don't know…_' He thought, '_I just don't know what to do… Brother…_' He whimpered as he turned a corner, his brother's limp body hanging over his back like a limp rag doll.

-Some Time Later…-

"Nnngh…" Tiben grunted as Jakken gently laid his brother against the wall of a shack embedded deep in the city. It was desolate enough, after Blanke and Jakken's last two hide-outs were quickly being found. Blanke had eventually remembered this deep hide-away she had found awhile back.

"He's feverish…" Blanke murmured, pulling away from Tiben's pallid and burning hot forehead.

"What will we do?" Jakken murmured, lowering to one knee to look at his brother.

Things didn't look good. The bullets had entered through his upper right torso, most of them forcing their way through his right arm and shoulder, and some still lodged inside his body.

"_I don't know… I don't know! This has never happened to me before! ARGH!_" The cream-coloured wolf snarled as she paced her way back and forth in the small space inside the building, her tail swishing angrily, "_This has never happened before! Everything was fine until I met you two stupid brothers! Then you two come along and suddenly BAM – my life is shattered!_" Blanke stopped, turning her head to see why she wasn't being noticed.

Her ears lowered to her head, her silver eyes taking on a sympathetic look.

In the corner of the room, were two wolves. Almost identical, they were distinguishable only by the blood spattered across mainly the slightly larger one, a smaller one gently licking at the blood, clearing it away bit by bit.

Slowly, the blood began to clear, after many minutes all the small, cream coloured wolf in the middle of the room could hear was the gentle rasping sound of the tongue of the blue-eyed silver wolf, the thudding feet and barking orders of Lady Jagara's troops fading away.

'_Such care…_' She wondered mentally, '_I wonder… if I was ever loved like that…_' She whined, and sat down, feeling awkward and out of place.

It may have been a couple minutes, or even a couple hours, but however much time had passed Blanke felt herself being nudged awake, blinking open her silver eyes to see Jakken kneeling in front of her.

"Hey…" Blanke yawned, rubbing her eyes, "Is he…?"

"…He'll be… I don't know…" Jakken admitted, getting up and gazing weakly at his older brother, who was lying limply on the ground as a maimed silver wolf.

"He doesn't even have enough energy to take on a human guise… I'm not sure what to do! What will we do, Blanke! I feel so helpless!" Jakken put his hands to his head and gripped them in agony, his eyes worried and frantic.

"Hey! Relax! I've lived in this town for a couple of years; I would THINK I would know my way around…" Blanke smiled as she turned her back to Jakken, reaching out and touching the empty doorway with one hand.

She leaned back and smiled at Jakken, fingering her collar with her other free hand, its metal plaque reflecting the sunset's sunlight into the room.

"…I would think I would know where to find some medical supplies too."

Jakken let out a sigh of relief, before rushing over to his brother to gently place a hand on his sweat-ridden fur. Tiben's eyes fluttered open, fazed and distant with pain and confusion. His ribs expanded and fell with each breath, wheezing.

"Don't worry brother. I won't let you die. Just lay here for a while, nothing bad is going to happen to you. Rest."

Tiben's eyes slowly shut again, maybe to relief, and his breath became slower and more relaxed, jerking occasionally in response to the wounds in his body.

Jakken sighed slightly in relief – his brother was okay. That was a good sign. In these condition anyway. He went to his brother's side and took off his human cape, laying it gently on his brother's weak body.

"You ready?" Blanke stood in the empty doorway to the outside, and finished fingering her collar before she twirled it around her neck.

"…Sure." Jakken tried a smile, then nodded grimly, following the young wolf out the window attempting not to think about what could happen if they never came back…

-Outside-

"See, I _told_ you that was easy!" Blanke grinned, turning around to wave at the old human couple the two had bought medical supplies from.

"Good-bye child, thank you for coming by!" The wrinkled face of the old woman smiled, waving in return.

"Yes, we enjoy your visits! Come back as soon as you can!" The man smiled as well, before turning his attention to the sudden racking cough the gripped his wife.

"Yes…" Jakken turned from the sight of the old couple with a saddened look on his face, and readjusted the large paper bag in his hands so that it rested underneath and arm, giving him a free hand.

"They're sweet, aren't they? They're almost like family to me… I can always come to them for anything. They let me live with them sometimes!" Blanke smiled broadly, noticing Jakken's look on the old couple.

"So you _are_ like a pet to them – " Jakken's sentence was cut off by Blanke whirling around and stopping him in his tracks.

She jabbed an accusing finger on his chest, and stuck her face into his.

"**Never**. I am **not** anyone's pet. Not even them. I am NOBODY'S pet. I never have, and never will." She seethed, then continued, "They don't even know that I'm a…" She glanced around before whispering close into his ear, "…Wolf."

She turned back around and continued walking holding the bag she had with her hands underneath it, leaving a stunned Jakken behind.

It took him a few moments, then blinked out of his stupor, jogging slightly to catch up with Blanke, walking beside her.

"So, I take it you've lived here for a long time then?" Jakken murmured, to try and ease the cold shoulder coming from Blanke.

"…Yeah. I kinda… was here. For as long as I could remember." Blanke glanced at Jakken, seeing his kind blue eyes then quickly grew red and looked at the ground, at the path in front of them.

"I had always been here, for as long as I can remember. Remember how I told you earlier that I didn't know where I originally came from? Well I've been here for a bit… Enough to get to know most of the people around here." Blanke sighed.

"But… why? Why can't you remember?" Jakken asked, blinking.

"I don't know. I've forgotten… or something's made me forget. I don't know, and sometimes I'm afraid of remembering…" Blanke hunched her shoulders up, and most of her face was hidden by the bag she carried.

"Afraid? Why would you be afraid of remembering something so important? Something that you've wondered for your entire life!" Jakken stopped, and reached out his spare hand and grabbed Blanke by the one of the ends of afghan. His loud voice caused several of the other people in the street as they were to stop, and stare at the strange couple. They wondered who these people were, and why they were causing such a big deal.

The men in the alleyways of the same street stopped, and held themselves up at attention, one of them glancing over the corner of their position and see two wolves, one growling at the other, the other having a collar around its neck. Two shopping bags sat at their feet.

"You don't understand!" Blanke whirled around suddenly, causing several items to fall out from her bag and rattle on the ground at their feet, "You don't understand! You live your whole life in a rat-hole like this FEARING if you're going to live to see tomorrow! Jagara's soldiers roaming around this whole place, tearing families apart! **I've** seen it! **I've** seen what they do! Don't you think that I don't know that I'm a coward! **I've** seen things…" She bit her trembling lip, and looked at the ground, "Things that I know shouldn't have happened… and I was helpless to stop them."

Jakken growled, gritting his teeth and then abruptly slugged her in the face, sending her falling to the ground, the contents of her bag rolling out and covering the ground.

"Don't give me that crap, Blanke." Blanke gingerly rubbed her cheek where it still burned from the force of Jakken's punch. Her normally happy eyes were clouded with tears. But Jakken still wasn't quiet.

A dozen of soldiers poured out of the alley and surrounded them in an instant, their weapons clicking into action and giving a warning. These weren't normal soldiers. These were the wolf-hunters of Lady Jagara, massive in their huge armor, bulking shields, and vicious trident spears.

"You are both under arrest by the name of the great Lady Jagara! You both will surrender instantly or we will be forced to take action!" One of them called out.

Jakken ignored them.

"If you're afraid of something that big then you're going to be afraid of everything else for the rest of your life! Don't lie to me, Blanke, I saw the fear take control of your body when the soldiers came earlier, I saw the stress overtake your body and cause you to freeze up. You were afraid, like you will be for the rest of your life. So you've seen bad things. So what. So have my brother and I. But that didn't stop us from becoming cowards and hanging around in a place that we fear. Just the opposite. We've fought for things we believed in, whether or not we were scared. And we have been, for a long time."

He reached down, causing several of the soldiers to tense and hold their weapons out, bladed side out, and switch their shields close to their bodies.

"You don't have to be afraid anymore." Jakken whispered, his voice almost lost in Blanke's ear as he began to pull her up.

Her eyes caught his, and saw the rebellious gleam in them. She nodded curtly, and as he pulled her up they both leapt into the air, to the surprise of the soldiers who began firing their spears, the brilliant red lasers emitted from them burning nothing but the air. The towns-people screamed, and all scattered for cover.

Blanke and Jakken landed safely on the roof of the building next to the street. Not a word was said. They both got up and began the journey back to their safe house, as the soldiers followed in vain afterward on foot, crushing the contents of Blanke's medical kit on the ground.

-Hours Later-

Blanke stood silently by the door, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared somberly into the sky – dotted with stars and swirls and lastly… the moon. It wasn't much, it was already waning, but it was enough to give her comfort. It had always made her feel better. It was the moon, and it was her only friend.

That had to be enough… right?

She sighed and buried her head in her arms, biting her lip. Both the words and the slap she received from Jakken had long faded… but it still stung. His words… was she really afraid of everything?

'_I had never really gone out… attempted to leave this city… I hid in the shadows, watching Jagara's troops turn this town into a pigsty. And I didn't do anything to help… Anything to draw attention to myself! I really was a coward… But…_' Blanke tore herself from her thoughts and looked into the night sky, whispering the words that would remain hers forever.

"Am I still a coward?"

"I don't know."

"AHH!" Blanke nearly jumped into the air, turning around quickly to see Jakken standing there, holding his hand behind his head and waving sheepishly with the other.

"Sorry, was I interrupting you?" He asked sweetly.

"Nothing! Ugh! Forget it! Boys…" Blanke turned back around, her cheeks bright red and puffed out in anger.

She continued to stare into the sky, aware that Jakken had sat down next to her, wiping his hands on a rag.

"You know, I think my brother is going to be all right." He said, not looking at her but at the moon as well, "I managed to patch him up… though he will be weak for a bit I s'pose. I just hope I did my best…" he sighed and looked at his hands – which were still slightly stained in his brother's blood.

Blanke looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Jakken trembling, before burying his face in his hands.

'_So… he was scared too… Maybe it's okay to be scared… sometimes…_' She thought, and forced a smile back from her face.

"You did." She said lightly to Jakken, who looked up to see Blanke staring nonchalantly into space.

They fell silent for a while, and that silence was only broken by the crickets… and a dog bark. The occasional shout from a family and the stamping of feet from the soldiers. They were wanted criminals, after all.

"Hey… Jakken?"

"Yes?"

"I think… I'm going to try to be braver. You know, because you and Tiben are going to need it… need ME on this 'journey' of yours. You never know…"

Jakken nodded faintly, and the silence of meditation flowed around the pair again.

From his place at the doorway - where he had dragged himself - Tiben smiled. Maybe things wouldn't be as harsh here after all.


	5. Chapter Four: Or Have the Tears Deluded

**Author's Note: **Wheet-whoo! I've made it this far. Hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Didn't go exactly as planned but hey – beggars can't be choosers! …That didn't make sense.

**Character Notes/Response to Reviews: **I cannot answer any questions at the moment, although I regret to say that as of yet, I have no plans for introducing Blue and Quent into the story, because of their last known position in the manga.

**Wolf Interaction: **Now, in this story I have many references to where the wolves in here change from wolf to human without me saying/typing so – it's the way that I type this story that you have to interpret if they're human or wolf at the moment. If you get confused at how you read a sentence – if it doesn't make sense, just think if it would make more sense if they were human or wolf at the moment. :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Wolf's Rain; or any aspects of it. Or the song 'Gravity.' I only consume the copyrights to this story's plot, Jakken and Tiben's personalities, and dear sweet Blanke:3

I dearly hope you enjoy reading this next chapter! (And I apologize for it taking so long. Things have been very busy with my life lately, and sometimes I don't even have the inspiration to keep writing.)

-…-

"_While none of us were looking, I guess we somehow all got mixed up in a world of legends and faerie tales."_

-…-

**Wolf's Rain :00: An Other Story   
Chapter #Four: Or Have the Tears Deluded Them?   
Current Ages (Wolf):****  
Tiben: Four****  
Jakken: Four****  
Blanke: Three**

-...-**  
**

**-Eighteen Hours Until Sundown-**

"_Daddy! DADDY! Mommy, where's Daddy? …Mommy? Mommy!" A small grey wolf yelps fearfully, as flames grow around the ruins. He runs, and stumbles, looking this way and that, desperately searching for his family._

_Suddenly he sees a tall wolf, standing high with pride, ferociously fighting off the other wolves attacking him._

"_Daddy!" He whimpers, as he sees the last wolf fall. He yips happily and wags his tail._

"_Tiben." The tall wolf smiles, and begins to lean down to grab his pup._

_Suddenly a crack, as loud as thunder and echoing as an earthquake sounds through the air, as the wolf is thrown into the air, a stream of blood pattering down from the sudden hole that had been forced itself through his body._

_Time slows down, and the young pup's brown eyes grow wide, and begins to tremble, shaking madly as his father slowly collapses on the ground, motionless and un-breathing._

"_Daddy!" He runs over, nosing his father's still head with his snout, harder and harder, trying to wake him up._

"_AHAHAHAHAHA!" A maniacal laugh is heard, closer and closer, ringing through the small pup's head, seeing a tall, impossibly huge dark figure walking closer and closer, his gun smoking from the last blast._

_A snarling beast is by his side, teeth ferociously huge while bared in anger and hatred. It is held at bay only by a leash held by the man's hand. Its body is writhing and shaking with muscle, snapping furiously at the young pup._

"_AHAHAHAHAHA!" The man's evil, maniacal laughter is still ringing through the smoke-ridden air, as the pup backs away from his father's still body, and whimpers, shaking his head and whimpering with fear, anger, and sorrow._

"_Stop it… Stop it! **STOP IT**!"_

Tiben threw the meager sheets that covered his body into the air, trembling and sweating profusely. He put a human hand to his mouth and tried to overcome the waves of nausea that were in a storm in his stomach. '_No… not again. Not again… I can't stand that nightmare…_' He thought weakly, and ran a hand through his damp hair, standing up weakly. The wound in his shoulder still hadn't healed, and it wouldn't for a while. He winced at the thought, and braced himself against the wall, gritting his teeth.

'_I can stand. I can do this. I can survive._' He thought, and glanced at his younger brother, who was resting as close as he could next to his older brother, paws folded elegantly across each other, ears laid back against his head.

Tiben smiled, and took a look at the other wolf that was with them. A smaller, collared wolf lay on the other side of the small house they were staying in, asleep as well.

Tiben wouldn't blame them. It was – by a quick glance at the moon from a nearby window – around sometime early in the morning. Too early for anyone to be awake.

But he couldn't sleep. Something was telling him – something was wrong. Maybe that was why he had that horrible nightmare… of his father… and the man… - suddenly a crack from outside broke his concentration.

An unnatural crack, like that of a concrete being shifted, and broken off from the piece it was attached to. A scuttle of a small pebble being kicked across the same concrete. A click of a weapon.

"Jakken! Jakken, wake up!" Tiben hissed, kicking his brother weakly in the side, trembling from the effort to keep from falling down.

"_Wha…? What's wrong, brother?_" The wolf looked up, and his ears pricked up quickly, and then cocked his head.

"Just wake up Blanke – we need to get out of here. Don't you hear that? There are men outside! I don't know how, but somehow they've found us. We must find another place to hide."

But even as Tiben finished, Jakken had picked his way carefully around the rubble covered ground of the house, nosing Blanke gently to ease her awake.

He whispered something into her ear, and almost immediately her pale silver eyes jerked wide open, and almost began to tremble, and would have if Jakken hadn't nipped her gently on the ear.

The two wolves padded over to Tiben, who continued sending desperate glances outside the window, checking to see if the people outside were getting any closer.

Two human children each took a place under Tiben's arms to support him, and together the three of them leaped from their spot to a hole in the ceiling.

Just as they escaped through the hole, bullets ripped into the small room, jagged holes appearing in everything imaginable – walls, crates, floors, and the medical supplies that Blanke and Jakken had bought only a few hours earlier.

The soldiers moved in carefully, lighting the corners with their flashlights and sweeping the whole room with their guns. After it was clear that no living creatures were in the vicinity, a soldier looked up, spotting the hole and speaking coldly into his communication device:

"Sir, I think we lost them."

There is a moment of silence before a message, jumbled and slightly garble, returns, "THEN GET OUT THERE AND FIND THEM! DO YOU KNOW WHAT'LL HAPPEN IF WE DON'T FIND 'EM! WE HAVE TO FIND 'EM BEFORE TODAY!"

"Y-Yes, sir!" The soldier responds, and indicated to his fellow teammates to keep going.

**-Later-  
-Twelve Hours Until Sundown-**

"I can't believe we almost got caught!" Blanke gasped as the trio hid themselves safely in an alley.

"No kidding. If it weren't for your ears, brother, we would've been caught!" Jakken smiled at his brother, while glancing into the street that led into their alleyway.

Tiben simply nodded grimly.

"We should get farther back in the alley… we might be spotted from here…" He looked around, holding a hand on his wound and grimacing.

"Okay!" Blanke saluted and she and Jakken repeated their action that got Tiben out of their previous hideout.

This process took several minutes, and soon they found themselves at a rather tall wooden fence – decaying even as they stood there.

"We should be able to leap this if need be." Tiben rapped the wood with his knuckles before sliding down the fence and collapsing in a heap at the bottom.

Jakken nodded, and began to speak before Blanke cut him off, shushing him.

"Shhh! There are people on the other side," she whispered, gesturing at the fence, "I think they're soldiers!"

At once the brothers fell silent and the three wolves listened in on the plan, ears cocked.

"…Well I don't care if they don't leave – it's their own fault! Those stupid townspeople don't know when they're being saved; we don't even have to tell them the town is being destroyed!"

"I know, I know! But it's their own choice – d'you see us giving a hoot about that? Let them die. It's their own fault for hiding the wolves from us. They're the ones who got Lady Jagara angry."

"Yeah, you got that right! Come sun_down_, this town's going _up_!"

The pair's laughter was harsh and cruel but eventually faded as they walked off.

Both brothers glanced at each other before looking at looking at Blanke, who is shivering.

"_Blanke_…" Jakken nudged her gently with his snout, attempting to break her out of her funk. Blanke didn't respond for a moment, before shaking her head and throwing back her head as if to howl, but didn't, and simply hung her head, tongue out of her mouth and looking dazed and confused.

"_Hey!_" Tiben snapped at the small wolf, which yelped in response and glared at him reproachfully.

"_What the heck was that for! Back off, you DON'T know what I'm going through._" She growled back, her tail swishing back and forth irritably.

"_You're right. I don't. But you know what?_" Tiben, despite his injuries, stood tall and glared angrily at the cowering Blanke, "_But I really don't give a crap. Jakken and I are going to go find out all we can about our petal, and if you don't come along, FINE! We seem to have gotten along well enough before we met you. Come, brother._" And with those words that left Jakken and Blanke shocked, he leapt over the fence with some assistance from a nearby trash pile and began to walk away, his arm holding his human shoulder, teeth gritting from pain and irritation.

"Jakken… you believe me, right?" Blanke looked at the younger brother, hope in her eyes.

"Remember what I said earlier?" Jakken walked towards the fence, placing a hand on the rough wood and his gaze away from Blanke. "Well you might want to remember that before you come with us." His eyes were cool and collected when he spoke tersely to Blanke, before leaping over the fence and leaving a stunned, small, cream-coloured collared wolf behind.

**-Two Hours Until Sundown-**

"_Brother, have you found anything?_" Tiben asked, glancing over his shoulder weakly to see his brother tapping furiously at the computer's keyboard.

The two had snuck silently into the makeshift base – which had nearly been cleared out, because of the destruction of the town scheduled. A few guards had been… incapacitated after deciding that letting a couple of wolves into the pathetic looking base (a bunch of army tents strewn together in the side part of town) and looking for information wasn't the best idea.

A large computer console was the only device still working, and Jakken was working as fast as he was able to find anything about their small flower petal.

"Nothing… wait…. Wait…" The tapping of a few more keys before a small electronic 'blip' sounded and Jakken grinned. "Yes! There seemed to be a project… this petal we have… something else… 'Lunar Flower'… Crap!" He slammed his fist on the keyboard, causing the screen to flicker and the keyboard to send small sparks in the air.

"_What is it?_" Tiben limped over to his brother, his nose sniffing curiously at the computer. Jakken was always better at the 'computer' thing.

"It crashed… too much data, or something." Jakken sighed, running a hand through his blond hair.

Tiben nosed his brother's hand reassuringly, before shaking his head sadly, reminiscing over something, "_It's all right. You tried as best you could. It's fine. Besides, we now know the name of the petal. Let's just… get out of here. I'm sure we can find something else somewhere… No more pouting._" He limped cautiously to the door, waiting for his brother.

Jakken paused a moment, then padding up to his brother, the two touching cool wet noses, before Jakken hooked his brother's arm over his shoulder and leapt away, leaving their foiled plan behind.

**-Somewhere Else In the City-**

**-One Hour & Fifteen Minutes Until Sundown-**

A small wolf huddled weakly in the petite and discreet alley, pulled together in a tight circle, shivering madly. Its ears were flat against its head, its tail pulled tight against its body.

She opened her eyes, looking mournfully into the air – the sky painted a deep scarlet and orange, the soft tones or purple and blue already seeping into the air, a somewhat foreboding sense of peace.

"_What… am I doing here? …Why couldn't I go with them…? Why didn't they attempt to help this town! Us!_" Her beginning sad tone turned bitter and into a small snarl, as her mind reflected to other things – other times, other memories.

Her collar was rumpling her fur, and she picked her head off her paws and opened her mouth as though to howl – and did so, the mournful cry of the saddened wolf echoing through the city.

People passing by – the townspeople who were beginning to evacuate their doomed town paused for a moment, and many of them shivered. They didn't know why Jagara and her men would want to destroy their home for a couple of God's creatures, let alone a species that had supposedly been wiped out two hundred years ago.

'Madness.' That's what they called it, and many of them suspected it. The Nobles were mad with their greed; their hunger for new things, and their longing for power.

Some of them had gone too far.

The She-Wolf closed her mouth, and got up rather shakily as her cry echoed its last call through the hollowing buildings.

'_What'll I do…?_'

**-Thirty Minutes Before Sundown-**

Tiben and Jakken ran freely through the emptied town, their tongues open in the air in the exhilaration of it all.

Jakken was still supporting his brother, and often took quick, frenzied glances at the horizon, to see where the Sun's position was.

"_We must hurry, brother!_" Jakken murmured to the wolf at his side.

"_Let me recall – who was shot in the shoulder again_?" Came the quick and snippy reply.

"_I'm sorry, brother. But I must insist haste. We must get out of here before someone spots us._" Jakken replied.

"_I know, I know. I think - _" But Tiben's reply was cut off by the shout and sudden rapid sound of gunfire.

"There they are!"

"The two wolves!"

"Take them!"

The two wolves ran faster, dodging into a nearby side street and running desperately for cover - the harsh clatter of gunfire right on their tails.

**-Fifteen Minutes Before Sundown-**

Two boys sat gasping for breath on a hillside outside the town's limits; apart from the other townspeople who were gathered in a large group, and far apart from the soldiers that were keeping the townspeople at bay.

The sunlight shone like a razor sharp blade across the groups, causing many people to squint at their old home. Many of the former inhabitants of Treols were crying, tears streaming silently down their cheeks. Others were silent, their faces set with grim determination. Still, others were shouting angrily at the soldiers keeping them at bay, throwing themselves at the soldiers, yelling furiously at them: "Why are you doing this?"

"You have no right to tear us from our homes!"

"Let us return!"

"There are no such things as wolves!"

In return, the soldiers grew even more violent, pushing back the swarm with the butt of their guns and roughly handling the crowd:

"You'll have to deal with it!"

"Shut up and get back!"

"Don't make us have to use force!"

"It's too late now to do anything about it.

"Your town is doomed…"

The soldiers laughed at the peoples' sorrow in obvious mockery of their pain. Now most of Jagara's soldiers were watching the land, waiting for the moment when the Sun would touch the land's edge, and give them permission to destroy the town with the explosives that had littered across town.

Connected with one wire, with the press of a button of the controller that the soldiers held in their hands, the town would be blown to pieces.

"Tiben…" Jakken murmured, clenching his fist angrily, "Why can't we - "

" – I know what you're thinking, and no. We've all we can." Tiben spoke gravely, sighing and looking up at his brother from his place on the ground, "These peoples' concerns are not ours. They must accept what has and will happen to them – without any help from myself or you, just as we have." Tiben took the small petal the two brothers had in possession and held it in his hand, to catch the last few dying rays of the sun.

"And this petal. We have learned so little… and yet the gain is great. …'Lunar Flower…' This is good. We will fine more information about this flower, and why our parents sought so desperately to find it. In time."

Jakken nodded, so proud to be the brother of this fine wolf.

Both were silent, while Tiben gently placed the petal back into his pocket. The Sun was slowly creeping towards the Earth's rim – leaving the townspeople to murmur even more about their inevitable fate.

"Brother…?"

"Yes?"

"What about… Blanke?"

Tiben sighed, "She had a choice, Jakken. You have to understand that. That was her choice – her own personal choice to make."

"I know… I know, Tiben. But sometimes I wonder…"

-...-

A short distance away from the other townspeople was a small girl, hugging herself tightly despite the warmth of the setting sun. She cocks her head up, tears welling up in her cool grey eyes as the soldiers count down the fate of her town.

"Five!"

'_This wasn't right…_'

"Four!"

'_It wasn't supposed to be this way…_'

"Three!"

'_How will I survive…?_'

"Two!"

'_Will I live…_?'

"One!"

'_Or die…_?'

-...-

A deafening explosion rocked the land, as people, soldiers, and wolves alike shook and tried to hold their balance against the rock of the explosion.

Shops, homes, parks, the water towers, all of them were detonated in nearly the same explosion, as the crumbling and fearfully loud explosions mixed with the tears of the townspeople and the laughter and clink of champagne glasses from the soldiers.

It was over. It was through. Treols was not the first city to fall at the hands of the mysterious Jagara, and it would not be the last.

-...-

Tiben got to his feet, wavering slightly in his step, holding onto his brother's shoulder for support.

The two looked grimly at each other, their eyes locking and agreeing on an unspoken bond.

They turned to go – leaving the burning rubble of the city behind, and stopped, seeing a small girl standing over the hill, her back to them.

The brothers kept silent, and both stared at her.

"…Where you're going… where you two are going to go… are you going to help things? Are you going to change the way that things are? Can you really think that you two can change the way this dung-heap of a world can be changed – just by you two and the hope you so desperately cling onto? …If I go with you…" She sniffed, her back stiffened and shivering slightly, her head cocked back towards the sky, towards the rising moon.

"Will it be able to help these people? Will it be able to fix it? Because that's all I really want. …That's all I really want."

Tiben and Jakken both stayed silent for a moment, as they simultaneously began to walk towards her, each relying on eachother for their strength to walk.

"…Yes." Tiben spoke, his brother echoing after him.

"It is quite possible."

Blanke nodded, and took a hand to wipe away the tears that had run down her face, before she turned to face them – red-faced and smilling.

"Then let's get going, slowpokes!"

The townspeople are left in their misery and woe – some moving on while others stand still, unsure of what to do. Whatever the case, none of them knew that the only hope they had was racing away, running as fast as they could in the direction of the faded sunlight.

-...-

'_Wait a minute, tell me something. You really going to fight Jagara alone?'_

_Claw's face tightens._

_Whiskers grins._

_Howling nods._

_Fang responds without hesitation, 'Whether I'm alone or not, I'm always going to fight to protect the ones who need me. No matter what.'_

_

* * *

_  
**Author's Note: Whew. Sorry for the ridiculously long delay. Really, that was bad. I'll try not to let it happen again. :)**


	6. Interlude : Family

**Author's Note: **Sorry about the long delays with the chapter updates. I'm having fun writing this story; I'm just having a little trouble keeping up – because of school. --'

Also, you will be seeing many 'interludes,' similar to this – where I see them fit to be. The information and the story line in these are of no importance and do not relate to the story greatly.

**Response to Reviews: **Right, sorry about that I Be Guest. As I said in the AN, -points above- I'm having trouble finding the time.

Also, the question about the end of the chapter, it was a quote inserted that fit the mood of the story. I think so, anyway. –nodnod- Yes.

**Disclaimer:** See chapter four.

* * *

**Wolf's Rain :00: An Other Story  
Interlude – Family**

-

"_I suppose it would have always been fun to have a family." A small boy murmured, throwing a rock against a nearby empty trashcan._

"_I guess so…" His friend murmured, scratching her head in thought, "But then we wouldn't be able to do what we want!" She giggled, and smiled at her friend._

"_Blanke, you're so weird." The boy rolled his eyes, his tousled black hair and bright green eyes twinkling with amusement._

"_But then…" Blanke began, chewing on her lip and fingering her overly large collar thoughtfully, "Why don't we have parents Jamie?"_

_Jamie sighed, and threw another rock against the trashcan as hard as his ten-year old body could manage._

"_I told you already – my parents left me a long time ago and you came here as an orphan a year ago! You numbskull!" He admonished her weakly._

_The girl shook her head, her white pigtails flying this way and that, "Oh you be quiet Jamie! You know what I mean!"_

_Jamie sighed, and got up from his position against the wall over to Blanke, holding out his grubby hand, "C'mon. Let's get back to The Home. I hear they actually are serving good food today!" He grinned cheerily, and Blanke grabbed the hand as he swung her up._

"_Okee dokee! But I bet I can beat you there!" _

"_You're on!" He responded, running through the street ahead of Blanke, "But I get a head start!"_

"_JAAAAAMIE!" She yelled, running after her friend and laughing all the same._

_- _

_-That Night-_

_Jamie tucked his young friend into bed, taking a few stray hairs out of her face, and his fingers floated down to the collar that his friend was constantly wearing._

"_Why?" Jamie whispered silently._

_It had always been there, as long as Jamie had found Blanke. She never took it off – despite its inconvenience and obvious annoyance to Blanke. Whenever Jamie asked about it, she simply responded with a small smile, saying, "It's just there, 'kay?"_

_Jamie had to admit, he often worried about the small girl. There was something strangely different about her – her soft grey eyes, her white hair, the collar, and the strange appearance of her at the town as well_

_It was bad enough that she didn't realize he was a wolf as well. There was something wrong about her… maybe she was weak. Jamie had often thought of showing himself to her in his real form, but decided that would be too bad for the small girl to comprehend. It would probably terrify her as well. Besides – he was a weak thing, as it was._

_There was trouble in the city – soldiers had begun to walk the streets. There weren't a lot, it was just enough to make the young boy wary though._

_Treols had always been a bad town, despite its usefulness for fresh water. Prostitution, gambling, drugs… you name it – this city had it._

_Maybe that was why there was now a constant patrol here of Lady Jagara's troops…_

_Jamie sighed, and shook his head, going off to his own bed._

"_I'm too young to think about all this…" He murmured, slipping quietly into his bed and off to slumber land._

_- _

_-The Next Day-  
_

"_Jamie! Jamie play with me!" Blanke giggled, as the two walked through the streets of Treols, Blanke holding tightly onto Jamie's hand. _

_Jamie sighed, blushing at his friend's behavior. _

"_Not now Blanke. We have other things to do…"_

"_Like what?" Blanke retorted, "You're my big brother now, Jamie! You HAVE to play with me!" She beamed up at Jamie, who in return managed a small smile._

"_All right, fine. We'll play, little sis. What do you want to play this time? Tag? Hide-and-go-Seek?" He asked._

"_No! I wanna go 'sploring!" She giggled, and let go of Jamie's hand, darting among the crowd of people, lost almost instantly._

"_Try and fine me, Jamie!" Jamie bit his lip as he heard his 'little sister's call – crap. Where could she be?_

"_Blanke! Blanke come back! It isn't safe to run away like that!" He called, pushing through the groups of people desperately looking for the younger girl._

'_If anything happens to her…' Jamie looked fearfully around, before starting off again, 'I'll never forgive myself.' He thought and ran faster than ever, calling Blanke's name as loud as he could._

"_Blanke! Blanke! BLANKE!"_

_- _

_-Sunset-_

_Jamie was out of breath and tired as heck, hands on his knees and doubling over for breath._

"_Where the heck is that girl? I've checked everywhere – from her usual hiding spots to The Home – nothing!"_

_He paused, Blanke's previous words ringing through his head, 'I wanna go 'sploring!'_

_Oh no._

_Jamie's head jerked back up, and he began to run for the bad part of town – of course she was there! Jamie had always forbidden her to go in the part of the town, because of the bad things he had heard._

_- _

_-Slums-_

"_Lemme go! No! Let me go!" Blanke writhed pathetically in the older man's grip._

"_Settle down little girl, I just wanna play! You said you wanted to, right?" The man's buddies chuckled nastily, their breath reeking of alcohol and drugs._

_Blanke whimpered, before biting the man savagely on the hand, and twisting out from his grasp._

"_Little wench!" The man held his hand, blood dripping from the surprisingly deep wound._

"_Get her!"_

_Blanke's small body was no match for the older men, as they blocked off the entrance to the alleyway and one of them kicked her harshly in the ribs, sending Blanke sprawled on the ground, in extreme pain._

"_You little girl… You don't know who you're dealing with, do you?" The leader leered at her, and still holding his hand, kicked the small girl on the ground again._

_Blanke yelped and gritted her teeth in pain, tears welling up in her eyes._

_Why were these men hurting her?_

_Why were they being so mean!_

_The man kicked her again, Blanke's face now bloodied._

_She whimpered again, her eyes crossed and unfocused. It hurt… so much._

"_Leave her alone!"_

_A voice – familiar. It was Jamie – here!_

_Blanke turned her head weakly, to see Jamie break through the body barrier of men, his face flushed and his teeth bared in anger at the men._

"_What did you say, boy?"_

"_I said: Leave. Her. Alone." He growled in his small human voice, her fists trembling as he stepped over Blanke's still form, looking around to see how many men he would have to fight._

_Four, including the leader, who was already bitten by Blanke. But he would probably fight, anyway. But they were all still intoxicated – right?_

"_Fine. Looks like the girl has a big brother, eh? No matter, we'll just have to kill you too." The man laughed, and pulled a switchblade from his jacket pocket – as did all the rest._

"_GET HIM!" The leader called, and the four men began to jump young Jamie._

"_Don't be scared, Blanke." Jamie whispered to the small girl, before he lunged at the men._

_- _

_-…-_

_- _

_Jamie whimpered on the ground, his four legs trembling from exhaustion. His pink tongue lolled out of his mouth, while his normally black brilliant fur was mangled and dripping with blood._

_He lay in a pool of his own, along with the men he had just slaughtered. He couldn't die yet, though. Not yet._

_He whined, and his emerald green eyes faded and dimmed._

"_Jamie?" A small pup padded to the fallen wolf, who was not much older than she, and nudged him weakly with her snout._

"_Blanke, I'm so… so glad you're all right." Jamie attempted to wag his tail, but instead shuddered again, as he felt the blood falling from his veins from the knife cuts the men had made before they died._

"_Aside from a few bruises… yeah!" Blanke yipped happily, before nudging Jamie again._

"_But what about you? Can't you get up, Jamie? Can't you get up?" She asked weakly, lying down on her stomach to look at Jamie in the eyes._

"_I… I can't. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get to you in time… I was so stupid." The wolf growled weakly, before Blanke shushed him._

"_No, you saved my life Jamie. I'm really grateful. No one's ever done that for me before."_

_Jamie chuckled, "I'm glad. I'm so… so glad. …Blanke?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_I'm your big brother, right?"_

"_Right!"_

"_And you'll always remember me, right? Because I love you, little sister."_

"_Okay… but why are you talking like that?"_

"_Lemme finish, okay?"_

"_Okay."_

"_Blanke… little Blanke. I do love you like a sister, I really do. So promise me… you'll – "_

"_I'll what? I'll what? Jamie!" Blanke yipped, and shivered, getting up and looking down at her brother, before lying back down again irritably._

"…_You'll always… remember your family. I know you can find the rest. I'll see you in later, okay Blanke? Never forget me…" He licked her weakly on the nose before collapsing, his sides contracting for the final time as his last breath left his body._

"_Jamie." The wolf pup got up abruptly, her paws drenched in the blood of her brother's. _

"_Jamie!" She whimpered, and she shook._

"_JAAAAAAMIEEEEE!" She let out a howl – a heart-broken and desperate howl of the loss of a loved one._

-

-

-…-

-

" Something is pulling me -

I feel the gravity, of it all… "


	7. Chapter Five: Maybe this time tomorrow

**Author's Note: **I apologize if this chapter seems a bit slow.

**Character Notes/Response to Reviews: **Thanks to all those who have reviewed this story! Now, Blanke's past is a very mysterious one, but like the previous interlude, a little bit of it will be revealed at a time. So… yes. :P

**Wolf Interaction: **(Going to post the past statement I made – just to get it into your heads.) Now, in this story I have many references to where the wolves in here change from wolf to human without me saying/typing so – it's the way that I type this story that you have to interpret if they're human or wolf at the moment. If you get confused at how you read a sentence – if it doesn't make sense, just think if it would make more sense if they were human or wolf at the moment. :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Wolf's Rain; or any aspects of it. Or the song

'Gravity.' I only consume the copyrights to this story's plot, Jakken and Tiben's personalities, and dear sweet Blanke:3 (Taken from last chapter. This will be the default disclaimer from now on.)

-…-

"_I tell you now the words of the Book of the Red Moon:  
__From the Great Spirit was born the Wolf…"_

-…-

Wolf's Rain :00: An Other Story  
Chapter #Five: Maybe this time tomorrow  
Current Ages (Wolf):  
**Tiben: Four  
****Jakken: Four  
****Blanke: Three**

The wolves ran – faster and steadier than any of them had ever before. Perhaps it was because they were filled with the age-old wonderful instinct of migration that exists in all creatures. The very instinct that caused the human of the Earth to move from town to town, city to city.

Or maybe it was because the scent of humans were still lingering in their noses, and the wound that was throbbing on the shoulder on the brown-eyed wolf was still lingering in all their minds. Either way, they wouldn't stop running until they had to.

Their tongues hanging out of their mouths, their feet making sharp and distinct paw prints in the shape of a wolf's. Their tails held high and free.

Of the three, only one wolf had not experienced this rush before. The cream-coloured wolf flanking the grey wolf with the brown eye's left. Her eyes were wide with newfound knowledge and amusement. Never before had she experienced such a rush – it was wonderful.

She took and running leap and howled briefly while in mid-air, letting her voice ring and echo in the empty expanse of land and air around them.

"_This is wonderful! I've never felt so alive before, guys!_" She panted after landing on the ground again, falling into pace with her comrades.

The brown-eyed wolf rolled his eyes, while his near-twin took a sparing glance over his brother's body in between them and grinned the wolf-grin.

"_Isn't it great?_" He responded, and turned his attention to the landscape around them.

They had been running for at least a day now, without stop or falter in their steps. However, truth be told one of them was growing weary.

"_Hey guys? I'm getting' kinda tired. Can we please stop somewhere? I'm sure we must've lost Jagara's troops by now, even if they **did** realize that we didn't get blown up…_" She sighed, and looked at the other two.

Tiben hesitated before answering, "_I suppose so. Even so, let's take shelter in those rocks for tonight, just in case. I am not going to be found curled up in the wide open prairie to be the only target for miles._" He responded, as the three changed course for a couple of boulders, the only uprising of the terrain for miles they had seen.

"_Relax, brother._" Jakken spoke reassuringly, "_If you did sleep on the plain, there'd still be me and Blanke for target-practice too!_" He chuckled.

-At the rocks-

"Hmmm… this place looks nice enough to stay!" Blanke sighed as she flopped against the nearest rock, sides heaving and her tongue out of her mouth.

"I'm pooped!" She heaved a great breath and put an arm over her face, peeking at the two brothers from underneath it.

Jakken helped his brother sit down against another rock, while Tiben attempted to wave him off with an irritable expression on his face.

"I'm wounded, Jakken, not _feeble_." He said coolly, giving his brother a look.

"All right, all right – sorry for worrying about you, brother!" He said in a lighter tone, sitting down next to him.

For not the first time, Blanke winced at their kinship and attitude with each other, feeling alone and isolated as though a thousand miles away; though in reality they were sitting not more than five feet from her.

-That night-

Blanke jerked awake suddenly, wondering for a split second where she was and to remember what had happened during the past two days. She looked around sleepily, to see moonlight filtering through the opening in the cave.

The brothers were in the same places as earlier that day, and Blanke blinked as she saw something in Tiben's hand.

He was nearest to the opening of their cave, his eyes half-closed in contentment. He was smiling, though it was a dazed and distracted smiled, one that was both unfocused and completely obsessed with another item. And that item, resting in Tiben's hand, was a small pale pink and purple flower petal.

Blanke's mouth opened in a small, 'Oh!' of surprise and wonder – she had never seen such a beautiful thing in her life. Despite its size, she felt as though it could be ten times the size it was now, and smell just as wonderful. But it seemed as though it would soon die, for despite its beauty, it was wilted, and faded in colour.

Blanke had never smelled such a thing before in her life. She had always lived in Treols, and there hadn't been many good smells there to begin with. But there was something different about this one – it was clean. Purest in the most wonderful aspect of scent. And something mysterious about it too, something as wild and untamed as the wolves themselves.

"What's that?" She asked suddenly, raising her head to wipe her still-sleepy eyes.

"Hmmm?" Tiben looked up, and his smiled changed, this one more of a greeting to her. "Oh, Blanke. I didn't realize you were awake." He nodded at his brother, whose mouth was wide open and sagging as he snored slightly, head back against the rock wall.

Blanke smiled, and chuckled lightly. But her eyes still held question in regard to the petal in his hand.

"Oh, yes. The petal. Well it's something that's very important to my brother and I and we've had it for – "

"But it's wilting!" Blanke said, interrupting him. She quickly put her hands over her mouth and winced, feeling a reprimand coming her way. "Sorry." She whispered.

Instead of correcting her in his usual fashion, Tiben put his finger to his lips and said, "Shh," a mysterious smile on his face.

He took the hand that held the petal and put it into the ray of moonlight that lit up the first part of the cave.

The petal, formerly wilted and faded, seemed to shine briefly, and in an instant, it was whole again.

"Ohhh…" Blanke said with an amazed expression on her face. "That's so lovely!" She said in an awestruck voice.

"Yes, I suppose it is." Tiben said with a soft voice.

-Later-

Blanke had fallen back asleep a few minutes after Tiben had gently put the petal away into his pant's pocket. She held the blank collar that was around her neck in one hand, the other across her lap. It seemed it was the only thing she could rely on.

Jakken had woken up, smelling the petal even in his sleep. He looked around distractedly, muttering, "Wha – Where's the petal, Tiben?" He asked groggily.

Tiben rolled his eyes, "I put it away, Jakken." He said, wincing slightly at a small movement.

Jakken nodded once, then looked as though he would fall back asleep when a sound arose in the night. He winced, and immediately leapt off his behind and stood at watch at the entrance of the cave.

"_Nobles_…." He growled.

Tiben looked over to his brother, and the look in his eyes were enough.

"Come back here, they might see you." He whispered, and Jakken quickly returned to his brother's side.

The two brothers sat shoulder-to-shoulder, staring up at the ceiling in anxiety.

The eerie and buzzing sound of a Noble's flying behemoth ship filled their ears with a strange droning sound, as thousands of feet above them a giant ship sailed the skies. Its size so huge, it covered the moon with its vastness, and the few creatures of the plains stopped in their activities and stood still, as the noise filled their heads as well.

It might've lasted minutes, or it might've lasted hours, the brothers weren't sure. But however long it was, they sat stock-still as they waited for it to pass. The only sound that they feared was this one itself.

Nobles, the rich and gluttonous people – the _humans_ – that had gorged themselves while the rest of the human population withered and scavenged for food. Neither caring for others around them nor for their own rich kind, there were numerous alliances that had been around for years. For the longest time, the Nobles had been held above all others, in their aristocratic deals and blood-alliances, and others were forced to live off their so-called kindness.

Both cold-hearted and fearless, relying on others do to the dirty work for them, they were in reality weak, and fearful that one day they would lose it all.

The only deviant of this pathetic display of humanity, was the mighty Jagara. Perhaps she was the only Noble unafraid of displaying her power and relishing it with satisfaction.

The brothers didn't know if they would ever know for certain.

As soon as they couldn't hear the eerie sound of the ship any more, they relaxed, and both looked at each other with a strange mix of happiness and fear on their faces.

"I was wondering, Jakken," Tiben spoke up, quietly at first.

His brother looked at him with a questioning look on his face.

"What is it, Tiben?"

"Blanke's collar…" he said, motioning towards the sleeping wolf.

"What about it?" Jakken asked him, raising his eyebrows and giving his brother a stranger look.

"Well, what do you think?" The oldest brother asked, fixing his brother with a stern look.

Jakken paused, then sighed saying, "Well, I can't deny it gives me the creeps. I mean – look at her! She said when we first met, 'This thing is the only clue to my memory.' That's not natural, right? And what about her abandonment? And about the cry she described…" The blue-eyed teen shivered, remembering the voice Blanke had used when she described hearing it.

"I know, I know. Blanke may be our friend, but there are many things still unknown about her. And everything we don't know about her…" Tiben looked at his brother expectantly.

"…gives us more reason not to trust her. I know, I know! How many times have you drilled that into my head? But still, I mean, we had to take her with us. We couldn't just leave her in the mercy of Jagara's troops!" He said.

"It's all very mysterious. Everything is so…" Tiben sighed, tilting his head back and resting it against the wall.

"Bad? Doomful? Hopeless?" Jakken offered dryly, his face concentrated in thought of more words.

"Ha ha." Tiben looked across at each other. "You know what I mean. Everything seems to be changing now, more than every other year we've been searching. The Lunar Flower… Blanke… and the fact that Jagara is now after wolves." Tiben's brow narrowed, looking up into the sky from the entrance.

"I don't think we can trust the world as we used to, brother. Things are changing from what we knew." Jakken said simply, his face lit an eerie blue from the light cast by the moon. "Remember what happened nearly three years ago? What the boy said? 'That somewhere, far, far away… Paradise was found.' Is our journey even worth pursuing?"

Tiben seemed to sag a little in his posture. "C'mon, things aren't that bad. Yet, at least." He smiled, and patted the ground next to him. "Get some sleep, brother. We're going to be traveling a lot tomorrow."

Jakken smiled gratefully, and sat down next to his brother, soon lost in a dreamless slumber.

Tiben watched his brother sleeping for a moment, then looked across to Blanke, and finally getting up and hobbling over to the entrance, staring at the sky and gripping the wound on his shoulder. "Sometimes I think you may be right, Jakken." He whispered softly, his brown eyes reflecting an unknown emotion.

"Sometimes I fear you truly are right."

-Early Morning-

"Well then, I s'pose we should head to…" Jakken trailed off in his thinking, stretching as he spoke.

"Theriopolis. Theriopolis is the city located closest to here." Blanke repeated, raising her eyebrows. Actually, that's a lie." She added as an afterthought, tipping her head into a thoughtful pose.

The brothers stared at her.

"Then what are you trying to say?" Tiben asked in a short voice.

"I mean – it's the most reasonable city to go to from here!" Blanke recovered quickly, grinning sheepishly and nodding quickly.

"What do you mean?" Jakken asked, still staring.

"Well, I figured we must've gone at least twenty miles or more from Treols… maybe east or west - I never could get those right – judging by the sun's position… so there are numerous smaller cities and towns (I figured we want to avoid those if there are soldiers there) and the biggest one, Theriopolis, is around fifty or so miles from here. There's also a railway around here somewhere… which if we want to we can hitch a ride. Though I wouldn't exactly suggest that either…"

Jakken quickly lost interest, staring at the progress of a small rabbit some distance from where the three stood. Tiben, however, stared intently at Blanke, as she rambled on.

"…So basically the only thing I would warn you guys of is that Theriopolis is awful close to Lady Jagara's Keep." Blanke nodded thoughtfully, ending her speech.

"Good. You can be our navigator, then." Tiben said briefly, and by some unknown movement Jakken grinned and nodded in agreement with his brother.

Then, without another word, the two started to jog off, laughing.

"Hey! I can't believe you two! You mean you two know nothing of where you are!" Blanke screamed after them.

"Nah… we've never gone this far North before, though." Jakken spoke over his shoulder in a lax manner.

"Boys…" Blanke growled, before grinning a small smile.

The two wolves began to run faster and faster, stopping a distance before staring back at Blanke with expectant looks on their faces.

'I wonder what it would be like… to have a family. A new one… Since my old one has faded away…' Blanke paused, her vision blurring for a moment as the image of a green-eyed black wolf filled her head before she blinked away the moisture.

"Wait for me, guys!" She called, springing off from her position and running after them, keeping the old memories hidden for the time being.

* * *

**Wings**: -waves- Thank you for making it this far! Since it took me so long to get this one written, here's a preview of the next chapter:) (From what I think it will be so far…)

'_Running, running as long as they could breathe. The three wolves did not stop and think, even as the harsh rain hit their faces and mud spattered their coats with mud. They couldn't stop – not now. Because they were on their way to the railway._

_There was also the fact of the battalion of soldiers on their tails and after them who were relentless in their own journey as well.'_


	8. Chapter Six: The Rain Will Cease

**Author's Note: **I apologize that this chapter took so long to write. School has been an… arse. xP Seriously. And I've lost interest in this for a little bit. But now I'm back – with a vengeance! x3

**Character Notes/Response to Reviews: **(I know I shouldn't have this up since the recent 'respond to reviewers' feature they added. Shhh! Don't tell!) Thanks to all those who have reviewed this story! And so now it's time now for some fun! xD When you review – I want you to tell me what you think could make this story better! Any suggestions will be taken into thought for the next chapters! Thanks in advance!

**Manga: **Yay! Good news, all! Since my family has gotten a new printer/scanner, I can show you the most important parts of the manga. :3 I'll simply scan them, and then I will post the links to the images via here. It'll be very basic – I might just upload (the prologue from this story) the end of the manga for now, so all of you can see whom Jakken and Tiben look like. :) (Seen in the normal right to left format of most manga). Manga of Wolf's Rain © BONES, Keiko Nobumoto  
Page 1: www . boomspeed . com / auroranwing / manga1 . JPG  
Page 2: www . boomspeed . com / auroranwing / manga2 . JPG  
Page 3: www . boomspeed . com / auroranwing / manga3 . JPG

**Wolf Interaction: **(Going to post the past statement I made – just to get it into your heads.) Now, in this story I have many references to where the wolves in here change from wolf to human without me saying/typing so – it's the way that I type this story that you have to interpret if they're human or wolf at the moment. If you get confused at how you read a sentence – if it doesn't make sense, just think if it would make more sense if they were human or wolf at the moment. :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Wolf's Rain; or any aspects of it. Or the song 'Gravity.' I consume the copyrights only to this story's plot, Jakken and Tiben's personalities, and dear sweet Blanke! x3

-…-

"_The moon is not shamed by the barking of dogs."_  
-American Indian Proverb (Southwest)

-…-

**Wolf's Rain :00: An Other Story**

**Chapter #Six: The Rain Will Cease to Follow  
Current Ages (Wolf):****  
Tiben: Four****  
Jakken: Four****  
Blanke: Three**

"_Why do we have to run so fast again_?" Blanke piqued up, her breathing hard.

"_Because… we're on our journey and that's what you do. Run fast and hard_." Tiben responded shortly. The wound on his shoulder was aching again, and it put him in an irritable manner.

"…_So when Jagara finds us we're easier to catch_." Jakken added in, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he ran, his blue eyes wide with amusement.

"_Very funny._" Blanke responded dryly.

The two brothers exchanged looks, looks holding the same look of fear they had two nights ago when the Noble behemoth had passed over their heads. They couldn't tell Blanke about that yet. It would scare her even more. She was younger than them; although age had no discretion over knowledge. She could know more than they realized.

The three wolves slowed their pace when all of them had begun panting mildly. Blanke, during this small break, tipped her head to the sky, and a worried expression flitted over her face. "Looks like there's going to be rain, soon." She commented lightly.

The brothers looked up as well, and a grim look settled on Tiben's face. "I'm afraid she's right," he said to Jakken's look of outrage, "it _is_ going to be raining eventually."

Jakken growled. "Well that just puts the beef on my day…" He muttered under his breath.

Blanke giggled and Tiben simply shook his head.

No sooner had Jakken spoken than a sudden downpour opened down on them, the three of them looking into the sky with different expressions on their face.

"This is just great!" Jakken shouted, as thunder suddenly rumbled deeply after a crack of lightning had split the sky.

"Shut up and start running." Tiben responded shortly, and began to run, with the two other wolves hanging back for a moment.

Jakken motioned to Blanke, and she leaned in for a moment, listening to gray wolf as he whispered, "_He gets cranky in rain_."

Blanke giggled as the two spread to their respected ranks beside Tiben. His cool brown eyes held no emotion as the three began their normal pace again, the rain spattering and staining their fur darker shades of off-white and gray, while the mud splattered and dirtied their legs and muzzles.

Tiben kept his innermost thoughts to himself, not even revealing them to his life-long friend, partner, and brother Jakken. Now was one of those times he thought, while Blanke and Jakken passed jokes occasionally and spoke a few words. Running was one of the only times that his mind cleared, and he was able to focus on one subject.

As he ran, and as thunder and lightning filled the sky with their rumbles and lights, he became confused (not for the first time on this journey). The first thought he had: Why were things changing? It used to be easy enough to live as a wolf, but that was a long time ago, when they were barely a few weeks old and even _that_ was torn away from them. All they had to go by was the mysterious petal they had found at the massacre from their former pack, the strange blue-black wolf that had told them to go on, and the longing, the strange instinctual longing, to go towards the place their parents had been looking for. But was that place?

Why had he and his brother run into so much trouble since they met Blanke?

And speaking of which, who was she, really? She didn't have a family; she didn't have any recollection of her past that she had told he and his brother of. She was just a lone wolf.

And finally – who was this Lady Jagara that was one of the more famous Nobles, aside from Lord Oakam and Lord Darica himself. Her name had quickly been rising among the villagers of the region, and they spoke it with fear – and with good reason.

Tiben focused for a moment on the wound on his shoulder, and it hit him with a grim reality.

They may not survive in battle of high-class Nobles.

He stopped, skidding to a finish, splattering himself and his companions with mud.

"_What was THAT for, Tiben!_" Blanke demanded angrily, looking over herself with a concerned eye, clearly upset. "_It's going to take me AGES to clean myself off!_"

"_Yes, brother, why did you stop so suddenly?_" Jakken asked, cocking his head and looking at his brother concernedly.

"_I_ –" Whatever Tiben was about to say was cut off. The spray of gunfire cut through the ground only inches behind them.

"_What?_"

All three wolves cocked their ears where the gunfire came from. The trio narrowed their eyes, until they saw a caravan of soldiers' armored trucks.

"Guess they didn't like our little game of hide-and-seek." Jakken commented innocently enough, and then winced as he received identical looks of bitterness and irritability from both Blanke and Tiben.

"Just a joke…" He muttered as an apology as the other two sprang away from where they had been sitting and towards the train. "_Hey – wait for me!_" He called.

-...-

Tiben kept his feet moving faster than ever, saying in spare breaths to Blanke and Jakken, "_Get… to… the train… catch a ride… won't… attack civil-… -ians…_"

"_Whatever you say, Tiben. Just get us away from those soldiers_!" Blanke called, yelping as clods of dirt were kicked up from the machine guns on the trucks and hit the three wolves in the back. "_Not as though were dirty enough as it is…_" She muttered in response to this, clearly upset over the cleanliness of her fur.

Running, running as long as long as they could breathe. The three wolves did not stop and think, even as the small raindrops hit their faces and mud spattered their coats with mud. They couldn't stop – not now, more than ever. Especially with the sharp and crisp sound of gunfire that followed their every move.

"_Lucky for us their aim is about as good as Tiben's skill at hunting._" Jakken commented dryly, earning himself a sharp and hurried look from his brother as they neared the tracks.

"_Funny you should mention hunting, Jakken,_" Tiben began to say, before he was cut off by Blanke as she shouted something with a sudden bark.

"_Shut up you two – can't you see we're there_!" She called, her words barely heard over the clattering of the train's wheels on the tracks.

The group had reached the train and the railway at last, and it seemed that Tiben's prediction was indeed correct. The mechanical bite of the machine guns' bullets had ceased, albeit for now. Though their pace was quickly reduced from their fatigue and seeming safety of the train, this quickly proved to be the wrong idea. The caboose of the train was pulling up quickly, and it soon became clear that they needed to jump aboard soon if they were to survive.

"_Climb aboard_!" Blanke shouted, as the brothers responded with equal surprise, "_WHAT_!"

"_It's now or never, guys_! _Don't you two trust me_?" She shouts, the roar of the train and the explosion of the thunder almost drowning out her voice.

Tiben's brown eyes become unsure, almost hesitant. But his actions do not. "_Now_!"

At Tiben's word of warning, the three wolves leap, and land on top of one another on a small platform on the edge of the caboose. Their nervous laughter quickly dispel any fears that are left.

Jakken pulls himself up from the pile, leaning on the thin railing surrounding their small patch of safety. He stuck his tongue out in a gesture of defiance to the already fading convoy of soldiers.

"Yes!" He shouted happily, wiping some rain off of his face, "Good job, Blanke!"

Tiben simply nodded in agreement to this statement, his eyes already searching for a way off this platform. Clearly they can't stay on here forever. "There!" He said, pointing to a ladder on the side of the train. "We'll mingle." He says simply.

-…-

As the rain pattered softly against the windowpanes, and the lightning and thunder roll across the plains as echoes; the storm itself already fading away, no one notices three very wet and muddy teens blend into the crowd, wiping water from their faces and squeezing their sodden clothes dry. The trio found a spare cabin in one of the more mediocre carts for citizens to buy passage on, and decide to rest, one against the other as the rocking of the train and the slowing patter of the rain against the window lulled them to sleep.

The moon was finally revealed as the clouds from the dying storm parted, leaving the beginning-to-wane moon and its light to shine briefly, before it fell beneath the rim of the earth and let the sun take over. But now, while three wolves slept in comfort of its light, others barked and snarled at the light it shed, having crawled out from the comfort of their homes and shook their wet fur.

Coyotes, barking wistfully at their only guide and light, unknowing of the destiny being fulfilled.

--

**Wings:** -writhes- I feel so bad because it literally took me around six months (and more) to upload this story. You all have my dearest and humblest apologies. Finding inspiration to start typing this again was hard. Again – I apologize. –bows-

**Preview for Next Chapter**  
The group is now inside a train (hopefully) going to Theriopolis. So now what? What will happen now, after a battalion of armed soldiers are found aboard the train? Tiben, Jakken, and Blanke have survived the trip onto the train; but will they make it off alive?


End file.
